


Jason Can't Dance

by thebrightestbird



Series: Fall Fling [1]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrightestbird/pseuds/thebrightestbird
Summary: Jason can't dance. His friends try to help.Prequel toFall Fling





	Jason Can't Dance

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on Dacre's dubious dance skills as seen in the Power Rangers Blu-ray outtakes. Here's the [gifset](http://thebrightestbird.tumblr.com/post/162735241443/power-rangers-outtakes). They are so freaking precious.

Jason can’t dance.

This has never been an issue before. He’s been to school dances, but he mostly cut out early with his football team to screw around in places they had no business being in.

Then fate deemed the upcoming Angel Grove High School Fall Fling to be the must-attend event for the Power Rangers through a series of occurrences:

  * Two months have passed since the infamous cow prank and car accident, and the police monitor on Jason’s leg – despite being mostly for show thanks to Billy – was finally coming off.
  * Jason just finished rebuilding his truck thanks to the collective efforts of his new friends.
  * Billy and Alpha 5 fixed the spaceship’s teleporting functions, which meant no more piles of soaking wet clothes to explain to their families because of the constant dives they made into the water entrance (and, you know, they can freaking _teleport_ now and get anywhere they’re needed at a moment’s notice, so that deserves celebrating).
  * Trini came out to her parents. They were accepting but way too eager for her to communicate her feelings about everything from now on. And they were ecstatic about her having friends and practically pushed her out the door to “experience healthy bonding and make lasting memories,” according to her mother.
  * Zack decided to be the DJ at the dance. This was a big deal for him to try to enjoy himself instead of drowning in the responsibilities of taking care of his mother. The team wanted to show him support.
  * Kimberly wanted all of them to have fun in a way that didn’t involve punching animated piles of rocks. Plus, Kim and dancing was a Thing. She takes it seriously.



This is how Jason finds himself three days before the dance with Kim after school in one of the rec rooms. She’s showing him the Running Man, and she’s doing a really good job, but …

“Why the hell are you showing me moves from before we were even born?” Jason asks.

“You’ve got to get down the classics.”

“I really don’t think I’m getting myself caught in an ’80s hip-hop dance-off.”

“It happens more often than you’d think,” Kim responds, completely straight-faced.

Jason covers his face with his hands. “You watch way too many crappy dance-battle movies.”

“The Running Man Challenge was completely a thing last year, Jason!”

“Just help me dance normally, please, so I don’t embarrass you all.”

Kimberly sighs. “Like anything could embarrass us anymore. We’re social outcasts going to a school dance to spite everyone. If worse comes to worse, we’ll dance in a circle around you and block you from everyone’s view.”

Jason snorts.

“Get up,” she grabs his hand and pulls. “Try this.”

Jason stands right next to her. Kim has her legs spread out some, and she’s doing something with her arms like she’s whipping the reins of a horse. “Wh-what even is that?”

“You are the worst student, Jas, I swear. Just follow my moves.”

He does, heaven help him. He _tries_ to follow her.

And Kim bursts out laughing. “You are the stiffest man in existence!”

Jason starts to put his arms back down in frustration, but she stops him. “Nope, keep them up.” She moves behind him and puts her hands around his waist. “Let me move you and get your hips going in some kind of rhythm. Just loosen up your shoulders and do a wave motion with your arms out.”

He tries to let her guide his hips, but an unstoppable snicker comes out his mouth.

“What?” Kim asks.

“Uh, sorry,” Jason blushes. “I guess I’m kind of ticklish there.” He turns to glance at her behind him and quickly realizes his mistake. She slips her hands under his shirt. “Kim, no! Not fair!” he yells, but she’s attacking his ribs with her fingertips. “This is not dancing!”

Kim jumps on his back to keep him from running away while moving the tickle torture up to his armpits. “You are the most precious, overgrown baby, Scott!” Jason swears she straight-up cackles then.

His Ranger strength is the only thing allowing him to keep them upright for even a minute. He reaches a breaking point though and collapses onto the bleachers that are luckily not too far behind them.

“Ow!” Kim exclaims. Because she was on his back, she lands a step above him. “My butt landed on the edge!”

“Serves you right, Hart,” Jason huffs out.

They take a moment to catch their breaths. Kim, of course, is still laughing at him some.

Arms eventually wrap around Jason’s neck, Kim props her chin on his head. She scoots forward, bringing him up so he can lean back into her. He gets comfortable and brings a hand up to mindlessly caress one of her arms.

“I’m not giving up yet,” Kim says. “Hopefully, the others will have more luck with our rhythm-less Red Ranger.”

“Doubt it,” Jason snorts. He brings her hand up to his lips and kisses her palm. “Should be fun though.”

||

“Billy, I’m not sure your dancing matches the song.”

The song Jason’s referring to is Miranda Lambert’s “Little Red Wagon.”

“You’re not even doing the moves, Jason. Get up and try it. You got this.”

Jason reluctantly gets up from Billy’s living room couch, steadfastly ignoring Mrs. Cranston, who is pretending not to watch them from the kitchen. “It just seems like a lot more arm movement than necessary.”

“Jason, you want to be like everyone else on the dance floor?”

“I kind of do, yeah.”

“No! No, you don’t,” Billy ignores him. “Now, we don’t have much time until the dance, so if you get this one dance move down, you’ll be set for every up-tempo song played.”

“You really think this,” Jason barely tries to mimic what Billy just did, “works with every kind of fast song?”

“I’ll show you.” Billy hands him his iPhone. “Play ‘This Is How We Do It.’ ”

Jason looks up Montell Jordan and hits play. Billy quickly gets into the groove, dancing as he was before, arms shooting straight up, working a full-body wave.

“But this is an old-school party jam,” Jason says. “You can’t really move wrong to it.”

“Play Chainsmokers!” Billy demands suddenly.

Jason plays “Paris.” Billy doesn’t stop moving. “See, this is what I’m talking about. What you’re doing doesn’t quite-”

“Guetta!” Billy demands again.

“Which song?”

“Any of them. They’re all the same.”

Jason picks something at random. Damn it, he picked one with Bieber in it. Oh, well.

Billy’s still going, not holding back. He’s bouncing, stepping, swaying, letting out an occasional “woo!” His enthusiasm is infectious, and Jason smiles at him adoringly.

“Come on, Jason! You came here to dance. _Dance!_ ”

Jason succumbs and drops the phone on the couch. He raises his arms in the air like Billy and ekes out some wiggling from his body.

“Come on, Mom!” Mrs. Cranston was now unabashedly watching them from the entryway. Billy goes over to pull her fully into the living room. “We gotta show Jason how to move!”

Mrs. Cranston laughs helplessly and joins Jason in following along to her son’s movements, his relentless energy sweeping them into the next random song – Pharrell’s “Happy.”

||

“Show me what you’ve learned so far,” Trini demands.

Jason blushes and looks away. “I don’t wanna,” he says, stubbornly.

The two are near Trini’s favorite cliff. She told Jason that if she was taking time out of her Friday to teach him how to dance, she was going to make him do some yoga with her in return. Fair exchange. (Yeah, Jason knows full well that’s not fair.)

Trini squints at him. “What did they make you do?”

Jason sighs. “Billy did this thing that reminded me of the inflatable arm-flailing tube men you see at car dealerships, and Kim showed me the Running Man and other street-dance styles and even described their socio-historical context. Somehow, they both managed to show me too much and not enough.”

“Ugh, they are so unbearably adorable,” Trini says, as if burdened by the fact.

Jason nods in agreement.

“Okay, no worries,” Trini says while taking off her coat. “Zack and me thought this might happen. I’ll get you set on the slower dance stuff. He’ll handle the upbeat stuff with you tomorrow.”

“How slow?” he asks, reluctantly.

“The sappy, romantic slow dancing that even your two left feet can handle.”

Jason relaxes hearing that he might actually learn something useful today and be able to do it.

“And the sexy, grindy kind,” Trini mutters quickly, like she’s coughing the words out.

Jason’s jaw drops. “Uh, wha-, huh?”

“Oh, grow up, Jason! I don’t swing your way, but it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate getting close and sweaty with my unusually hot friends of various genders on a dance floor occasionally.”

Suddenly all the Rangers’ attractive faces flip through Jason’s head like turning pages. “I … see your point,” he concedes and walks toward her, spreading his arms open in resignation. “I’m ready for my Dirty Dancing lesson.”

Trini gives a surprised laugh and smacks him in the chest. “Eww, shut up! Damn Kim for making us watch that.”

Jason smiles remembering that particular movie night. “Can’t believe Zack tried to act out that whole lip-synching part with me.” He recalls the odd flutter he felt in his stomach when Zack crawled up off the floor, moving until he was face-to-face with Jason, mouthing the words “my sweet baby,” breath warm across his lips, then withdrawing in an instant after saying “you’re the one.” He remembers wishing that scene had been longer.

“Yeah, don’t expect to be picking me up in the air or any of that other stuff they do in the movie,” Trini says.

Jason looks down at his friend. A mischievous thought pops in his head, something he’ll save for the dance. For now, he mock pouts at her. “So, just Slightly Unclean Dancing? Somewhat Dingy Dancing? Dusty Dancing? Doesn’t sound as sexy, Trini.”

Trini’s doing her best not to give in to laughing, her eyes shine and crinkle at him though. She helps him with his terrible dancing and secretly likes his terrible jokes – Trini’s an amazing friend. Jason knows he’s lucky to have her.

||

Zack’s at the school gym Saturday afternoon to set up the sound equipment for the dance. Jason was there just to get his last dance lessons from him but got roped into helping set up tables and chairs by the dance committee.

He’s placing his last chair when he hears Kanye’s “Power” roar through the speakers. Jason looks up to see Zack coming his way.

“Seriously, Zack?” Jason groans.

Zack smirks. “Yes, seriously, _Red_ ,” emphasizing the nickname with a wink. He grabs Jason’s hand and pulls him onto the basketball court/dance floor. “Time for your lesson.”

Once they’re in the middle, Zack lets go of his hand, but before Jason has a chance to miss it, Zack surprises him with a complete 360-degree spin, drops to the ground on one knee, then pops up into Jason’s space, pulls his shirt up like he’s popping an invisible collar, and starts dancing around him in a rocking, weaving motion.

Jason is equal parts flustered and amused. “Why are you leaning back so much?” he asks.

“To entice the other person to lean in,” Zack explains. “Come on, Jason. You don’t want me out of your reach, do you?”

Jason suspects there are some other meanings to that sentence, but lets it go for now. “I’m more worried about you falling flat on your back.”

Zack doesn’t stop moving. “Not gonna happen. Reason 1, because I’ve got the core strength of a god. And Reason 2, I’ve got-”

Of course, this is the moment he slips on his shoelaces. Jason’s super reflexes spur him in motion, his arms wrap around Zack tightly, barely getting to him before he hits the floor.

Zack looks up at him, dark-brown eyes wide open and moving around rapidly like they’re trying to capture as much of Jason’s face as possible. Jason thinks for a second that his eyes might be doing the same thing because he strangely feels like he’s seeing Zack again for the first time.

Zack’s big, sudden grin breaks the spell though. “I was going to say that Reason 2 is that I’ve got _you_ to catch me.”

Jason can only blush hard in response … and promptly dump his cocky-ass friend to the floor like he should have let happen in the first place.

Zack predictably laughs at the whole thing, head thrown back and mouth open wide in the way he does when he truly finds something funny. Seeing the other boy so light and free brings a rush of affection to Jason, his chest suddenly too full, and the moment is surprising and confusing.

Jason’s face must show his distress because Zack stops laughing and looks up at him with concern. “Dude, you all right? No hard feelings about dumping me to floor. I had that coming.”

Jason shakes his head and focuses on answering Zack’s words. “Yeah, you did.” He reaches out a hand to help him up.

Zack immediately bounces back to his feet, letting Jason’s odd reaction slide. “All right, Red. It’s your turn to dance.” He looks expectantly with those pretty eyes that Jason was so fixated on a moment ago.

And Jason suddenly feels so _shy_ around Zack. It’s exciting and overwhelming and … he needs to take a step back from it. He needs to breathe a bit. “You know, I’ve learned a lot this week. I think I’m good for now. I should be getting back home anyway to get ready. I have to pick up the others too.”

Zack looks skeptical. “You sure, Red? I’ve got a lot more to show you.”

“Tonight,” Jason promises. “I’m all yours tonight.”

Zack blinks in surprise and raises an eyebrow. Jason repeats in his head what he just said and, huh, that did sound suggestive. He expects some equally suggestive retort from Zack but instead gets a softly asked, “You think you’re ready?”

Jason can’t be sure, but he doesn’t think they’re talking about dancing anymore. He takes a moment then to think back over the past week, how he’s been given the chance to appreciate anew his relationships with the Rangers. With Zack though, he realizes there’s something more to their bond left to figure out.

“I’m ready,” Jason confidently tells Zack. “I’m more than ready for what happens tonight.”

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> Since I wrote this prequel story after I wrote and posted Fall Fling, if you're reading this story and moving on to that one, you'll probably notice some tonal differences. Also, that's the reason there's no mention of Jason's lack of dance skills in Fall Fling.


End file.
